Modular Observation Solutions for Earth Systemshttps://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/
Mon, 02 Sep 2019 12:20:36 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.2How to Plan a Cruise – Searching for the Methane Signal in the German Bighthttps://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2019/06/29/how-to-plan-a-cruise-searching-for-the-methane-signal-in-the-german-bight/
https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2019/06/29/how-to-plan-a-cruise-searching-for-the-methane-signal-in-the-german-bight/#respondSat, 29 Jun 2019 14:29:44 +0000https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/?p=568For our June cruise we were planning to locate a methane or chlorophyll anomaly in the German Bight and measure its extension, shape and possibly development over two days using two ships. The first question we have to ask ourselves is how to locate an anomaly. We were lucky enough that the days before our cruise had only few clouds over the North Sea, which made satellite data, or more precisely, ocean color data, the first choice. Several chlorophyll images from three satellites for the past three days were available. On the evening before the cruise we would sit down together with the team and analyze these images. Another contribution to answer the “where” question comes from plots that show methane measurement results from earlier cruises. Methane and chlorophyll are not necessarily related, but the recent satellite data and the old measurements both pointed us to approximately the same location southeast of Helgoland. We decided to head toward this spot, both vessels cruising in approximately two to three kilometers distance from each other, running our underway sensors and waiting to find “the patch”.

Once we hit the spot the plan was to sail right through it, measure its extension and then have one ship go North-South transects through the patch and the other one East-West ones. For the next day we would then study output from a computer model that forecasts ocean drift and use this information to find the patch again and take water samples and analyze the anomaly in more detail.

Having been in the field quite a few times, you know that reality isn’t always what you expect – we’ll see how this one plays out…

(Text and picture: Holger Brix, HZG)

]]>https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2019/06/29/how-to-plan-a-cruise-searching-for-the-methane-signal-in-the-german-bight/feed/0From the Canadian Arctic to data crunching in Germanyhttps://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/28/data-crunching-in-germany/
https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/28/data-crunching-in-germany/#respondFri, 28 Sep 2018 08:25:25 +0000https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/?p=415We have been back in Germany for 3 weeks now. It takes a while to adapt again to the daily routine here. Of course there is the jet lag. but then it is also a big contrast between living and working in the still and vast Arctic landscapes to doing office work and managing city life. For me, this requires a lot of readjusting and adapting.

Collecting data by air, boat, and car

During our expedition, we covered a large area – traveling by air, boats and car. You can see the coverage of your expedition on the map below: stretching from Inuvik in the South all the way to the Arctic Ocean to Tuktoyaktuk (Tuk) in the North and from the Mackenzie River in the West to almost the Husky Lake regions in the East.

Map shows our research area in the Mackenzie Delta and the locations of the diverse measurements. Source: Stephan Lange

Going with the flow

As is normal in the Arctic, weather conditions forced us to be flexible on a day to day basis. The originally chartered ship for the marine work had to be cancelled because it could not get through sea ice that blocked the passage from Alaska to Tuk. Instead, smaller boats were used from Tuk (see our story “A day with Capt’n Charles”). Flying with the Polar 5 was successful because the pilot’s were open to flying “after working hours”. Good weather windows opened up often in the later afternoon!

Data is online!

Looking back at our expedition, we can proudly say that most of the work went well. We collected lots of experience working in a new team, impressions of the Arctic and of course – DATA! Some of these data are already archived; more will follow.

Click on the image below to see our data displayed in full detail!

Data of radiation sensors over permafrost landscape and of methane and CO2 concentrations over thermokarst lake water. Source: Stephan Lange

We are also planning a post-expedition workshop on Helgoland to exchange data, prepare manuscripts or simply share photos and memories of our experience.

This is the last of our blog entries. We hope you enjoyed the tour of our travels, adventures, and science in the Canadian Arctic!

We drove a lot on this expedition! We started in Whitehorse, driving all the way up North to Inuvik on the Dempster Highway and then further on to Tuktoyaktuk at the Arctic Ocean, altogether 1500 km… and back.

At our arrival in Whitehorse, we could pick up our two huge pick-up trucks, a Dodge Ram and a Ford F350 Super Duty, with four-wheel drive and big aggressive tires. Just coming from Germany and its discussion about diesel cars and driving restrictions, I wondered, what does one need such a huge car for??

During our expedition and driving on the different types of road however, I came to learn the advantages of such cars, with all their special features. My favorite one was the heated steering wheel. Both trucks are what is referred to as extended cabs, which means that they have four doors and a front and back seat. The inside was very spacious and had more than enough room for four or five people.

Potholes in the road. Source: Inge Juszak

Types of potholes

On the paved highway, it drove smoothly. However, we soon left the paved road and drove on gravel roads, sometimes covered in mud a few centimeters deep. Here the challenge for the driver is to spot the different types of potholes:

small ones which can be ignored

washboard (ripples) which are rather uncomfortable for the passengers

bigger or deeper holes which should be driven around

big muddy holes where one can only drive at walking pace (preferably with 4-wheel drive on)

Depending on the driver and their skill, there was a tradeoff between reaching our respective destination and bumping the passengers and equipment. Luckily, only once did the tailgate (back door) jump open and we lost a bag somewhere on the highway. It was found later though, and made for a good story.

The highway is barely a road

Source: Inge Juszak

Source: Inge Juszak

Road construction on permafrost

Both the construction of the Dempster Highway between Dawson and Inuvik and the Inuvik – Tuktoyaktuk Highway (ITH) have been very costly and difficult. The ITH is a two-lane gravel highway and the first all-weather road to Canada’s Arctic Coast. Its 137 kilometers took 4 years to build and cost CAD $300 million. As the ground mostly consists of permafrost, the road needs to be built 2 to 3 meters above the ground to avoid thawing of the sometimes ice-rich permafrost below. Thus, lots of gravel has to be piled up. It has to withstand temperatures that tip below -40°C as well as hit 20°C on summer nights when the sun never sets.

Maintenance along the road. Source: Stephan Lange

There were many quarries along the road, connected via small lanes for the huge trucks carrying gravel. Construction along the ITH is ongoing and there seems to be a clear relationship between areas where the road is not built up very high above the tundra and the condition of the road (it’s bad!). Along the road, different “Road construction departments” are in charge of road maintenance, such as grading during the summer to smooth out the washboard and potholes and removing the snow during the winter. Interestingly, it seemed to be mostly women driving the excavators and graders.

The traffic on the Inuvik – Tuktoyaktuk Highway consisted of locals with the necessary trucks, campers in different sizes and forms, some motorcycles and even bicycles!! The more north we went, the less “normal” cars were on the road. In Tuktoyaktuk itself, many locals also had quads to drive the whole family around in town.

After returning safely to Whitehorse, without needing either of our 2 spare tires and no damage to windshield, I have to admit, these trucks are fun to drive and necessary under such harsh driving conditions.

Our Postdoc Sonya Antonova is a remote sensing specialist in the ongoing project PermaSAR. She analyses optical and radar satellite images to detect changes in the land surface. Prior to our expedition, Sonya had identified several locations in the Trail Valley Creek area where vegetation had disappeared. Such land disturbances take place when the ground moves significantly and rather rapidly, destroying or disrupting the topography and vegetation. The disturbances detected by Sonya are probably so-called active layer detachments. The active layer is the surface layer of the permafrost that thaws each year in summer. The soil beneath the active layer stays frozen all year round. Active layer detachments are shallow landslides, which occur in permafrost areas in response to high summer air temperature, rainfall events, or rapid melting of snow cover. With the climate warming strongly and rapidly throughout the Arctic, such land disturbances are bound to become a widespread phenomenon.

Field detectives find exciting land deformations

But to be sure what exactly we were seeing on the satellite images, we had to visit the sites on the ground. Field observations are indispensable when trying to understand signals from satellite imagery. And at every location Sonya had provided us, we could see exciting processes of land disturbance. Those sites were a real eye opener to me: while I had walked through this area on our way to the Trail Valley Creek research station, I had not seen the hidden “crawl” then. Clearly, the material on the slopes had moved rapidly. And this movement resulted in bare surfaces or new, different vegetation resettling on the freshly reworked material.

The drone takes a look over the disturbance site that is shaped like a horseshoe. A small area still has bare ground but lush green grass is already growing again on most of the disturbed soil. Source: Stephan Lange

Measuring surface characteristics such as albedo, vegetation, and thaw depth site on the ground at the disturbed site. Source: Julia Boike

At another site, vegetation had also disappeared but not due to an active layer detachment and a crawling of the upper soil downhill. Instead the area showed polygons. Polygons are extraordinary patterns in Arctic landscapes that form because of ice wedges in the soil. In the Trail Valley Creek area, the ice wedges in the soil melted and the soil collapsed. The newly formed depressions were filled with water, which shows up as disappearing vegetation on the satellite image.

Wetting of the surface due to polygon degradation: ice wedges thaw out, the rim deepens and fill with water. Source: Julia Boike

How to remotely measure changes in the land surface

Map shows the difference between two digitial elevation models (DEM) from 2013 and 2016. Red areas show a high decrease in elevation. Source: Sofia Antonova

While it is nice to map these phenomena, it is be even better to estimate how much of the surface eroded. For that, we use two Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) from different years and calculate the difference between the elevations. The largest land disturbance we detected was about 100 by 100 m in size. In order to investigate such changes in the land surface, we need DEMs with very high resolutions. The higher the resolution, the better we can see details on the ground. Recently, two new DEMs with an unprecedented resolution were issued: the commercial global TanDEM-X DEM based on radar acquisitions with a resolution of 12 m; and the open-access pan-Arctic ArcticDEM based on optical stereo imagery with a resolution up to 2 m. Both DEMs used acquisitions from different years, making it possible to track the elevation changes in time. Moreover, an airborne laser scanner surveyed the area in 2016 and now, in 2018. This provides very accurate elevation information with a sub-meter resolution, and we will definitely compare the elevation models once the laser data from this year have been processed. You can read about our airborne laser scanning campaign here.

Good to know: ice wedges create polygonal patterns in the Arctic

Ice wedge polygons are one of the most common ground patterns in the Arctic. Individual polygons range from 5-50 m in diameter and form as the result of winter freezing and spring thawing. At temperatures below -15°C, the soil becomes so brittle that it cracks as it contracts in response to cold temperatures. Come spring, meltwater fills these cracks and subsequently freezes into ice wedges. Year after year, the cracks increase in depth and diameter, and so do the ice wedges. From the air, tundra patterned in this manner resembles a cracked, dried-up mud puddle. The striking geometric appearance of ice wedge polygons dominates the lowlands of arctic Canada.

Contributions by: Sonya Antonova

Edited by: Sina Muster

]]>https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/12/crawling-sliding-slumping-permafrost-in-action/feed/0A day out with Capt’n Charleshttps://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/07/a-day-with-captn-charles/
https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/07/a-day-with-captn-charles/#respondFri, 07 Sep 2018 08:11:52 +0000https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/?p=342Today (August 27) Mareike and I want to measure and sample the waters at the Mackenzie River Mouth with a local fisherman, Charles Pokiak, and his boat. We had made first contact on Sunday afternoon and Charles and Bill immediately got along. So, we arranged a boat trip for the next day.

Tuktoyaktuk harbor. Source: Ingeborg Bussmann

A special treat

Mareike Kampmeier and Charles Pokiak. Source: Ingeborg Bussmann

Charles is a local Inuvaluit from Tuktoyaktuk. Our former captains recommended him as very reliable and experienced in dealing with strange scientist. In the morning we meet at the local gas station to fill up his jerry cans with gas and upload our gear. Then the boat is slipped into the bay and off we go. Even though Charles only has one arm, he slips the boat and ties his knots without any problems. On our tour we learn a lot about the local way of living. Charles talks about hunting Beluga whales – his son just caught his first one this year – and how to prepare their meat. Only the Inuvaluit are allowed to hunt them and the allowed number is restricted to keep it sustainable. To monitor the whales, Charles has helped tagging them and now you can follow their position on facebook. Charles let us taste some of this smoked and dried whale meat, which is an important local food source. The taste is very special…

Charles is very worried about the ongoing coastal erosion. One Pingo we passed was already “cut” into half by the sea. Pingos are small hills formed by below ground ice pushing up the soil above. The estuary is very flat, thus only the Pingos can be seen from “above” the sea, like huge mushrooms!

Pingos growing like mushrooms on the land. Source: Münevver Nehir

Looking for methane gas bubbles

For marine researchers who are used to big research vessels, the 6 m boat seems to be rather small. But its powerful 125 horsepower machine and its low draft make it perfect for the shallow coastal waters here. And inside the “cabin” there is enough space for us and our equipment. We set up our sensors to look for methane gas bubbling sites in the coastal waters of the Beaufort Sea and sample for water chemistry and geological parameters.

While our sensors were outboard measuring automatically, we also took water samples by hand. In the afternoon, the wind increased and we had to retrieve our sensors in order not to lose them. Nevertheless, we kept on taking water samples inside the river plume to find out if the river is transporting methane into the coastal waters. On our way back, the wind increased even more and after 1 hour of bumpy sailing we were happy to return to shore.

Contributions from: Mareike Kampmeier

Edited by: Sina Muster

]]>https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/07/a-day-with-captn-charles/feed/0Reaching the Land of Pingos, Tuktoyaktuk and the Arctic Oceanhttps://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/06/titel/
https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/06/titel/#respondThu, 06 Sep 2018 07:40:11 +0000https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/?p=320After our lake surveys, it was time for us – the aquatic team of the expedition – to head to the most northwestern place of our expedition, Tuktoyaktuk! The aquatic team, that’s Bill, Ingeborg, Mareike, Tim and me, Münevver.

Travelling on the Freedom Highway

On August 21, we say good-bye to the terrestrial group of our team and drive north on the recently built Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway. The locals also call it “Freedom Highway”. From the road we can see very huge and various types of pingos (ice-cored hills). 1350 pingos can be found around this region with some reaching 49 meters high and 300 meters across the base. For centuries, Inuvialuits travelling by water or land used pingos as navigational aids.

View from the Pingo Canadian Landmark in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada, 320 km north of the Arctic Circle and 5 km west of Tuktoyaktuk. Source: Münevver Nehir

Change of plans

In Tuktoyaktuk our Canadian colleagues welcome us with a very delicious dinner and discuss our research objectives for the upcoming days. We had planned to do all of our research based on the research vessel Ukpik. However, the boat could not reach Tuktoyaktuk on time due to sea ice conditions in Alaska and we need a new plan. Thankfully, our Canadian colleagues Scott Dallimore, Nicole Couture and Byron Molloy from the Geological Survey of Canada can help us. They have arranged two other boats, one from Aurora Research Institute (ARI) and one from Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), and together we develop new strategies for our marine surveys.

Frozen soil in summer

Our first boating destination was Tuk Island where many thermo-erosional niches at the base of the bluffs occur. Some of these niches are as deep as 4 m because the soil contains significant amounts of ice. The soil is exposed to the surge of the warm ocean water which melts the ice and then easily erodes the soil.

Thermo-erosional niche at the base of the bluffs on Tuk Island. Source: Münevver Nehir

Temperature is the most important parameter to determine the state of permafrost. To measure permafrost temperature, the Geological Survey of Canada has drilled four boreholes and installed thermistor on and in front of the Tuk Island. In summer, only the upper layer – the active layer – of the soil thaws. Below the active layer, the ground stays frozen all year long.

For me, it is incredible to see frozen soil in summer.

Edited by: Sina Muster

]]>https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/06/titel/feed/0Scientific dream come true!https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/05/scientific-dream-come-true/
https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/05/scientific-dream-come-true/#respondWed, 05 Sep 2018 06:50:18 +0000https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/?p=236On our second day (August 23) in Trail valley Creek (TVC) my scientific dream came through: we are measuring on the ground, while the Polar5 aircraft is flying a grid above us with the extent of about 19 km x 13 km. That means we can directly compare our ground measurements with the airborne measurements. This is a rare case and from a scientific point of view pretty awesome!

The ice in the soil is disappearing

It took a while to make this happen. There was a very long stretch of bad weather, some trouble with the flight planning software, and one flight with bad weather over TVC with no data. But today it all works out. We are spread out on the tundra and survey climate, vegetation and soil while the Polar5 does aerial laser scanning and takes high resolution optical images. We also use a Global Network Satellite System (GNSS) survey station to measure our position with very high precision, that is with an accuracy better than 1 cm. These measurements will be necessary to check and validate the aerial laser scanning data from the Polar5. In 2016 we measured this grid already with the Polar5 taking airborne measurments simultaneously. Now we can compare the different years and see how the land surface changed during that time over the larger TVC area. We already had a quick look at the 2016 and 2018 data – it seems that the ground subsided a few centimetres meaning that the permafrost ice in the soil is dissapearing.

Workout on the tundra

Measuring this grid is hard work. Just walking on the tussock tundra, over and through dense shrubs, or crossing waterways, can be challenging and is a full workout. In addition, we have to move our equipment such as the climate stations to take measurements in our survey grid. We also take daily thaw depth measurements with a penetration probe. Because the clay soil is very dense this is a physical challenge as well!

One of the goals of the MOSES expedition mCan2018 is to analyze methane concentrations of several lakes along the highway to Tuktoyaktuk. This includes water sampling and atmospheric measurements in and above the lakes. To do that we equipped a 5 m long foldable canoe with our sensors. Given its looks, we baptized the boat “Seegurke” which is the German word for sea cucumber. The targeted lakes are close to the road. Once we selected a proper point to slip the canoe to the water, we carry it from the car to the lake. Then we attach and install a bunch of sensors.

Aboard the RV “Seegurke”

We use a “portable” Cavity Ringdown Spectrometer (CRDS) from Los Gatos to measure methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere. A laser in the spectrometer measures how gaseous samples absorb light at specific wavelengths and enables us to determine the amount of CH4 and CO2 in the sample with very high precision. It weighs 30 kg including the battery and is the heaviest sensor we drag over the tundra. But it is worth it, because the CRDS measures methane concentration in real time and indicates hot spots of methane releases.

The fully equipped canoe “Seegurke” ready to be slipped to the water by Ingeborg, Münevver and Tim. Source: Tim Weiss

Carrying all this stuff to the shore of the lake gets us really warm, and thus clouds of mosquitoes and black flies are following us. On the lake however, we are rewarded with their absence again. A Garmin GPS helps us to navigate through the lake and records our positions during our mini cruises. To get an idea of the bathymetry of the lake – its underwater depth and topography – we use a hydroacoustic systems with multibeam and singlebeam sensors. The sensors send out acoustic waves that are reflected by the lake bottom. The system measures how long it takes for the sound waves to bounce off the lakebed and return to the receiver – which is then used to determine water depth. Hydroacoustics also help us to spot methane releases in the water column because gas bubbles create strong reflections when hit by an acoustic wave. A sensor frame equipped with methane, nitrate and conductivity, temperature and depth sensors is aboard as well. It is deployed over the side of the canoe to take autonomous measurements in regular intervals. It not only helps to understand the geochemical properties of the lake water, but also acts as a floating anchor to challenge our paddling abilities a bit more.

Aerial view of the lake crew. Source: Tim Weiß

Water sampling

Besides running all the electronic equipment, we are also doing the most classical work of ocean researchers: water sampling! We take water samples from different spots and depths in the lake. But we have to be patient with the analysis, since they will be processed when we are back in Germany. After taking about 8-12 two liter bottles of water samples, we are heading back to shore to unload our spoils. Then we dismantle all sensors from the canoe and carry it back to the car again. But the day is not completely over. We still need to prepare the water samples with chemicals in the lab in order to preserve them until the analysis back home.

Water samples from one of the lakes on the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway. Source: Münevver Nehir

Contributions from: Münevver Nehir

Edited by: Sina Muster

]]>https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/04/high-precision-science-on-the-lake/feed/0Frosty nights at Trail Valley Creekhttps://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/02/frosty-nights-at-trail-valley-creek/
https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/02/frosty-nights-at-trail-valley-creek/#commentsSun, 02 Sep 2018 13:36:22 +0000https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/?p=253From August 21 to August 27 we are living and working at the Trail Valley Creek Research Station. Here, we are measuring characteristics of the atmosphere, the land surface and the ground along transects of stable and degraded (thermokarst) permafrost. The research station is located about 50 km north of Inuvik. It was established in 1991 and has become a long term meteorological and carbon flux observatory to which we can compare the results of our MOSES campaign. Trail Valley Creek drains 58 km2 of tundra, with patches of shrubs and boreal forest, and is underlain by ice-rich continuous permafrost. This area is one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth, with melting of ground ice, expansion of shrubs, thinner snow covers that are melting earlier in the spring, and changes in runoff.

Trail Valley Creek. Source: Inge Juszak

Like a turtle on its back…

We drive with our trucks on the new Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway up to the camp. We can see the camp from the road, about 2.5 km away. It seems easy enough to walk there. We have 6 backpacks, 1 sled (filled with equipment), and metal probes for thaw depth measurements, drilling and surveying. We are optimistic that our luggage will not be a problem for us. Hah! It takes us 2.5 hours to make it to camp, taking several stops to rest and going back and forth several times. My knapsack is so heavy that once out of balance, I simply fell over, and was not able to get up again, like a turtle on its back.

Camp life

Our tent village consists of 12 inhabitants, most of them from the universities in Ontario and Quebec. Working in the field based in a tent camp means that you spend a lot of time just organizing your daily routines. Living outside is fun, but simple tasks such as meal preparation or getting water for cooking take a lot of time. Luckily, Trail Valley Creek is a several star science base that is well equipped and the camp managers (thanks, guys!) make sure that everything runs smoothly.

Trail Valley Creek Research Station and its inhabitants. Source: Stephan Lange

End of summer

During quiet nights, I can hear the ptarmigans talking to each other across the tents. In the early morning, the frozen water frozen in my bottle and frost flowers on the tents and on the tundra indicate below zero temperatures and announce the end of the summer. The summers here are only a few weeks long, and within days we see the tundra changing color and summer turning into winter.

Click through the pictures in the gallery below to see some beautiful impressions of the landscape at Trail Valley Creek!

Ptarmigans in the tundra. Source: Inge Juszak

First frost on birch shrubs. Source: Inge Juszak

Lake at Trail Valley Creek. Source: Inge Juszak

Headwall of an active thaw slump. Source: Inge Juszak

Less active thaw slump. Source: Inge Juszak

Beaver. Source: Inge Juszak

Beaver dam. Beavers influence the lake level. Source: Inge Juszak

Trail Valley Creek. Source: Inge Juszak

Spruce trees at Trail Valley Creek. Source: Inge Juszak

TVC Reserach Station from above. Source: Stephan Lange

Tundra changing color at Trail Valley Creek. Source: Julia Boike

Fog at sun rise. Source: Inge Juszak

Edited by: Sina Muster

]]>https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/09/02/frosty-nights-at-trail-valley-creek/feed/1Up in the air with Polar5https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/08/30/up-in-the-air-with-polar5/
https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/2018/08/30/up-in-the-air-with-polar5/#commentsThu, 30 Aug 2018 08:47:33 +0000https://blogs.helmholtz.de/moses/?p=213To be honest, I do not really like flying. It is too high, crowded and makes me feel anxious. But yesterday, I had my first real wonderful and exciting flying experience with the Polar5 team. The goal for these aerial surveys is to obtain high-resolution laser scanning and optical image data that allow us to upscale from our small local installations on the ground to larger areas. With the aircraft, you can cover about 200 km in one hour, whereas walking on the tussock tundra and taking simultaneous measurements takes hours!

My first Polar5 flight!

Selfie of Stephan and me during the Poar5 flight. First selfie for me! Source: Julia Boike

Stephan and I were the “newbies” on board of the plane. The very experienced team of pilots Jamie and Kodi and the AWI crew of Jörg Hartmann, Wolfgang Dierking, and Benjamin Harting gave us safety and instrument instructions. The weather was not ideal with low clouds and some rain. Still, we managed to fly all the way to Tuk in the north, and all the way to the southern part of the Mackenzie Delta.

From the airplane we were scanning the surface, measuring atmospheric methane concentration, and taking pictures with the new DLR camera called MACS. MACS is the Modular Aerial Camera System that was installed in the Polar5 this year. It takes aerial images in the visible and near-infrared spectral range. With an altitude of 1km above ground level MACS-Polar images have a ground resolution of 8cm per pixel in the visible and 15cm per pixel in the near-infrared spectral range. At this incredibly high resolution, we will be able to identify individual trees!

The flightpath of the Polar5 covering Tuk to Tsligehtchic in the southern part of the Mackenzie Delta. Source: Julia Boike

We did have spectacular views of the Mackenzie Delta, a recently burned fire scar in the southern part of the delta, and permafrost features such as pingos at Tuk. Natural fires are common in permafrost areas, but they have a significant effect on the permafrost since they accelerate the rapid degradation of permafrost.

Thanks to the Polar5 team members and the pilots I look forward to our next flights over our study sites.

Landscape showing the burned area in the southern part of the Mackenzie Delta (darker spots in background). Source: Julia Boike

Pingos are a common sight in the landscape of Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories. Source: Julia Boike

Good to know: Pingos – mysterious hills rising out of the flat tundra

Pingos are circular or oval-shaped ice-cored hills in the Arctic. Pingos have core that consist of a mass of clear ice, which may be only slightly smaller than the pingo itself. They may be up to 90 metres high and more than 800 metres across. Active pingos can grow a few centimetres per year for up to 1000 years. Cracks in the overlying material at the top of the pingo may expose the ice; the ice then starts to melt and may create a smaller crater or lake. The term “pingo” originated from the Inuvialuktun word for a small hill.